


Lost and Found

by Phantomfluffandstuff



Category: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra | Phantom of the Opera & Related Fandoms, Le Fantôme de l'Opéra | Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux, Phantom of the Opera (2004), Phantom of the Opera - Lloyd Webber
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Canon events mostly, Comfort, Cuddles, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Hints at some non-con stuff, Hurt/Comfort, It's back once again!, Lost - Freeform, Lost and Found, Married Couple, One Shot, Panic, Searching, Sorry for deleting it, Where love never died, happiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-04
Updated: 2016-03-04
Packaged: 2018-05-24 18:05:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6161939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantomfluffandstuff/pseuds/Phantomfluffandstuff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was never Erik's idea to let Christine leave for a late night errand but when she doesn't come home when he expected her, he begins to panic and goes to search for his beloved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lost and Found

**Author's Note:**

> Hello my sweet, lovely readers!  
> If you are wondering if you have seen this before, the answer would be yes. I wrote it awhile back but took it off before I realized that I was deleting something that people enjoyed. I'm very sorry for that, if you're one of the people who has read this before.  
> I hope you enjoy it the second time just as much as you did the first.  
> Also, a special thanks to one person in particular for bringing it to my attention that I should not have deleted this. Thank you for telling me and in the future, I will try to be more considerate.
> 
>  
> 
> _Disclaimer: The Phantom of the Opera belongs to M. Leroux and Mr. Lloyd Webber. I own nothing._

“I’ll be _fine,_ Erik!” Christine hissed at her husband for the up tenth time. She was a grown woman now and she did not need his help to go around town and pick up a few groceries. She honestly could not understand his concern for her. She had been around town plenty of times before and she was fine… Why should this time be any different? Granted, it was later in the evening but what did it matter? She could handle herself perfectly fine.

“Christine, I only want your safety!” Erik growled back at her. He paused and ran a hand through his unkempt hair, exhaling deeply. “Look, I’m just concerned. You shouldn’t be going out this late and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“It’s only nine thirty, I’ll be fine. I’ve gone out later than this before and nothing happened to me then!” She objected angrily, trying to make him see reason.

“Yes, but I was with you then!” Erik groaned and turned away from her, trying to calm himself. He didn’t understand why this shopping simply couldn’t wait until morning… He wasn’t even that hungry anyways.

“Erik, just listen to me. Give me but half an hour and I shall have returned. I will perfectly fine, I assure you.” Christine looked at him beseechingly. Why did she feel like she was arguing with her father about curfew? This was her _husband,_ and she was an adult. She shouldn’t have needed his permission at all to leave their house.

Erik sighed. Christine was right. He had no cause for worry except the simple fact that he cared for her and did not want to see her hurt. She could take care of herself and that much he knew. “Fine! Go!” He was sick of arguing about it and knew Christine would not give up until she got her way. “But be back in half an hour! Watch the clock!”

Christine smiled and pulled on her coat before kissing him on the cheek. “Half an hour,” she agreed. She was out the door before Erik could rethink his decision.

He groaned again and sank down onto the couch. _She will be fine,_ he reassured himself. _In half an hour she will have returned and she will be perfectly fine._ Why, then, did he feel so anxious?

  
Minutes seemed to drag by as he waited for his wife to return home. Every second was torturous and so drawn out that he felt some sort of magic must be at use. He could not focus long enough to do anything besides pace around the living room, first in circles, then around the length of the room, then back to circles again. The whole endeavor was absolutely terrible. After what seemed hours, the time came when Christine had promised to be back. This time, the minute flew by and with it, a horrible lack of arrival from Christine. Erik felt his heart sink to the floor as a million possibilities passed through his ever-spinning mind, most dark and hopeless, even by his standards.

_No,_ he thought. _She is probably just running late again. There is no cause for worry. Christine is fine._ Unfortunately this time, he hardly believed himself. But he had to wait. He needed to trust Christine, as she was always telling him to. Without trust, their relationship would fall to shreds which, as much as he hated to admit, recently had seemed a far too real possibility. They loved each other, but it was so hard. So, so hard. Erik had never dreamed marriage could be this hard. He had naively thought that, once he and Christine were married, they would live in a sort of bubble, away from the rest of the world, where no one could find them and there, the two of them would be completely happy. This was, obviously, not the case. Marriage required far more dedication and trust than he had originally foreseen, and this was one of the many times where the latter of the two was tested.

At last, nearly an hour had passed and still no Christine. Erik felt sick to his stomach with worry. Where was she? What if she had been kidnapped? Or something worse? With Christine being the beautiful and desirable woman that she was, Erik thought this was not out of the question and it made him feel worse. He knew what men thought of her; in fact, he thought it himself on many occasions. She was absolutely beautiful. Sometimes, he must admit, he could hardly keep his hands off of her. Of course, he, being her husband, really didn’t have much of a reason to keep his hands off her, unless she wanted him to (which she usually didn’t, much to Erik’s delight).

Erik was in full panic mode now. He needed to find Christine. She may have been hurt, or dying, or someone else might be touching her, some man who wasn’t her husband. Erik grabbed his hat and coat, in a rage about ideas that may or may not be truths. He rushed out the door and into the night desperate to find his wife.

He walked first to the grocery store where Christine had intended on going. He did not see her along the way nor in the store, itself. So, where was she? Erik rushed back out into the streets again, now calling Christine desperately. He didn’t care what anyone else thought of him, he just needed to find his wife. He ran through street after street calling for her:

“Christine!? Christine?! Angel, where are you? CHRISTINE?!”

Never in his life had he felt more panicked than he did now. What if Christine was dead, gone forever, leaving him in this cruel world all alone again? What if she had been kidnapped, forced to live the rest of her life in slavery? These things did not bear thinking about, yet he could hardly turn his mind from them.

“Christine?!” He called again, hoping beyond hope that she was just waiting beyond the next turn, smiling and perfectly fine, her brightly eyes aglow and her cheeks just slightly flushed from the cold. He turned the corner but, alas, all his short-lived fantasies were smashed before his eyes, as there was no Christine in front of him, just a solitary street lamp, casting cold light all around him.

Totally out of breath, he leaned up against the street light and tried to think. Where should he look for his wife now? He couldn’t (as much as he wished he could have) wander the entirety of Paris that night so he needed some kind of plan to search for his beloved. Putting his hands on his knees and leaning forward, he began to breathe a little more evenly and figured he may as well start searching within a two mile radius of the store. He straightened up again and continued with his search, feeling slightly more hopeful with his new plan, but no less worried.

Without Christine, he was nothing. Well, he didn’t want to be anything without Christine. He needed her, so much. Far more than he was willing to admit. What could he be without her hands beside him and her voice in his hear, guiding him? What did he want except her beside him, her fingers entwined in his and her head resting lightly on his shoulder? What was he without Christine but a phantom?

He turned another corner and became violently sick on the side of the street, due to his anxiousness. It never sat well in his stomach. He wiped his mouth and continued on, calling for Christine all the while. He felt close to crying… Where was she?

Finally, as he called her name for the hundredth time, he heard a weak reply from nearby: “Erik? Is that you?"

Her voice sounded scared and breathless and it broke Erik’s heart but she was here! He had found her! His Christine was found! He ran to the sound of her voice, emotions practically exploding within him: first happiness, then anxiousness, and then relief, each coming in such strong waves he almost collapsed. He turned down a small ally way and there he found her.

Christine was sitting against the wall, hands wrapped around her knees which were drawn to her shaking chest. At the sight of Erik though, she stood and ran to him, still shaking slightly. Upon reunion, Erik picked her up and spun her around in his arms, he was so happy to have found her again. He placed her back on her feet and pulled her into a tight embrace, kissing her forehead desperately, as if, if he stopped, she would slip away from him again.

“Christine…” He murmured, kissing her again. “Christine… I was so worried…” He sighed and tightened his embrace. “I thought you were dead! I didn’t know if I would ever see you again!” He let out a strangled sob and Christine pressed her face into his shoulder.

“Take me home,” she whispered, sounding like a scared child and tightening her grip on Erik as well.

Erik nodded and scooped her up into his arms and kissed her gently on the lips. “Of course. Of course, my angel. I will protect you,” he whispered into her ear. “I will keep you safe. Your Erik is here and he will never let you go again.”

Erik carried his wife the whole way home, which was nearly two miles, without pausing once. Nor did he say anything to Christine. He just simply brought her home as she had asked.

He opened the door and placed Christine carefully inside the house before closing the door and sinking onto their couch. He was exhausted from the emotional and physical strain of that night and needed to sit down. Christine sat down next to him and wrapped a blanket around their shoulders, cuddling closer to her husband.

After a moment of silence, Erik asked her what had happened. Christine drew herself closer to him before answering: “I went out to the store, the way I always do. Then, when I turned the last corner, there was a man. He was tall and muscular and he smiled at me. He asked me where I was going and I told him, as I saw no reason to do otherwise.” Erik sighed and Christine buried her face in his shoulder, letting out a sob. “Oh, Erik, I am so stupid! I should have listened to you! You were right, you are always right…” She broke off in tears and Erik gently pulled her onto his lap, shushing her softly and kissing her tears.

Christine continued: “He offered to come with me, and I refused him, politely, of course. H-he told me he wanted me to come with him, and I refused him again. Erik, I was so scared! I turned to run but he grabbed onto my arm! I was so scared…” She dissolved into tears again.

“It is okay, Christine. You’re here now… I’ve got you…” Erik stroked her curls gently and hugged her again.

“He told me he wanted me to come with him and started pulling me away, so I… So I…”

“What did you do, my love?”

“I kicked him and I ran. I ran like I had never run before.” By now, Christine had stopped crying was talking in a sort of trance, with no emotions at all. “I could hear him following me, but I was faster. I ran and ran until I could run no more. I crawled into that ally, the one you found me. I had stopped hearing the man chase me long ago but I thought that perhaps he was still out there, waiting for me. And then I heard you.” She hugged him and Erik kissed her temple.

“I am so, so sorry, Christine. This is all my fault… I never should have let you leave, at this time of night… I’m sorry…”

Christine shook her head. “I should have listened to you; do not blame yourself. It’s my fault, too.”

Erik kissed her again, trying to reassure her (and himself) that she was safe now. Christine kissed him back, drawing herself closer into his arms and moving her hands up into his hair. She was safe now. Everything was going to be alright. Their kiss deepened and Erik sighed against her lips; he was never going to let her go again.  



End file.
